Panel Report:
Making Urban Tours A Bigger Part Of The Business
Moderator
Lionel Bea Bay Area Productions
Darryll Brooks CD Enterprises
Mark Cheatham ICM
Jeremiah "Ice" Younossi A List Talent Agency

The burning question came from an audience member 53 minutes into the session: "What about insurance?"

There are plenty of reasons why urban acts don't tour successfully and the panel listed all of them: the "best friend manager," the single-driven, one-summer "artist development," the non-exclusive agency represen-tation and the lazy performer were just a few.

But insurance must be one of the biggest hindrances to rappers' careers. The panel - two agents and two promoters - were united in their belief that rap artists need to get their acts together, but even if they did, insurance carriers would still shy away.

Bea made it clear that he's had a rough time with rap shows, although it's not as bad as it was in the '90s.

He once worked with a basketball star who made $200 million a year and put a show together with eight rap acts, paid them 50 percent deposits, rented a venue and the whole thing came to a standstill because the basketball player couldn't get insurance.

"I'm obviously a black man but I'll say this in a roomful of black hip-hop artists: You cannot allow your shows to be violent," Bea said. "You cannot encourage violence at the concerts. You have to be on time. We have to run on schedule. A concert is like a bicycle with all these different parts and everything has to be right from security to production to sound.

"People want to say it's racist or whatever. Look, I've been to rock 'n' roll shows. Bill Graham was my partner for 20 years. I don't think there was that kind of violence. Bill might promote 500 shows and there'd be 10 cases of violence. Hell, you promote 10 rap concerts you'll have five cases of violence. There's no balance."

From the audience, Jeffrey Insler from Robertson Taylor pointed out that rappers are not always denied insurance because of violence at the shows; sometimes it's because insurance is not bought enough times for a broker to see an act's history. Even if there were small acts of violence associated with the concert, an insurance broker does not have that in the record books to weigh judgment. Hence: denied.

But that's not all. Urban acts struggle because they have a habit of making their best friends managers. Younossi (probably one of the few times "Ice" has been referenced by his last name) brokered the subject at the beginning of the discussion - a theme every panelist expounded upon.

"In most projects, the manager and the agent come together as equals," Ice said. "In urban music, the agent is trying to react to the manager. If the manager is not on point, the agent is going to have a really hard time developing the project."

Bea added his thoughts.

"Artists are dumb. I'm 42 years old now. I might as well tell the truth," he said. "It goes back to the manager. I once told a roomful of rappers, `Stop hiring your cousin as your manager. I don't want to talk to your cousin. And don't hire the lawyer who got your cousin out of jail; I don't want to talk to him either.'"

Best-friend managers might not know to call Brooks when in Washington, D.C., or Bea (who partners with Gregg Perloff on urban tours) when coming through San Francisco. Bea added that he has seen acts take $51,000 from a bad promoter rather than $50,000 from a professional who would have provided good catering and security.

Likewise, if an act is non-exclusive and has five agencies listed in Pollstar, who's a promoter supposed to call to get a date?

"There's a whole subculture now," Cheatham said. "A structure of man-agers who are booking their own shows, people working out of their houses booking shows, and there's no development of acts the way we were taught through the agency. A few managers will listen to you. The talent is out there and they want to perform."

Brooks said he has promoted rap shows that may have had some bad press, but it wasn't the fault of the act. That being said, he's had bad experiences.

"I did a big rap show in D.C. I didn't have an 'act' in the building. Not one! Scary. People bigger than me asking, 'Where's my money?' I'd have to say, "Your money's when you get on stage!"

He added that acts need responsible agents - with an emphasis on "responsible."

Cara Lewis was cited as an example of an agent who will remember a promoter who invested in a developing act the next time the act comes around, and her acts are loyal to her because she was there in the beginning.

In contrast, he remembered once when Beyonce‚ came through D.C.

"Guess what? She came through my door, I didn't get the show. I called up her father and said, 'Hey, can I get a date?' You know what he told me?

`Call Al Haymon.' Boing! That ain't gonna to work!"

That brought some healthy laughs from the crowd.

"Those who know what I'm saying know what I'm saying!" Brooks said. "Those who don't, they'll talk to you in the hallway."

Joe Reinartz